Improvement in building flumes for floating logs



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEroE.

JOHN DU BOIS, OF VVILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENTIN BUILDING FLUMES FOR FLOATING LOGS Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,285, dated January 19, 1864.

V liamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of' Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Building Flumes and Preparing Small Streams for Floating Logs and other Lumber; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a top view of one section of my improved flume crossing the bend in a stream. Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal section through Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section through Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the sill and upright supports for the flumetrough. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the flume-trough shown in Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction and arrangement of lume-troughs which are used for tloat-ing large or small logs of timber from one place to another through the country, thus transporting them to marketable places from the places where they were cut by a very easy and comparatively inexpensive method. In some sections of the country, where timber is plenty and remote from navigable rivers, logs and other lumber are frequently transported from one place to another by means of narrow lumes laid level with the surface of the ground, which communicate at their source with a dam of Water. By letting water into the flumetroughsit will float the logs therein, and they will thus follow the course of the stream to the extent to which the flume may be carried.

The object of my invention is to construct these tlumes in such a manner that logs will not be obstructed in passing through the same, and also so that small logs may be oated in them with a comparatively small quantity of water, thereby obtaining a great saving of water, besides obviatin g a great difficulty hitherto experienced in keeping the stream clear and the logs continually in motion.

It further has for its object preventing the flume from injury by high water at points where the flume crosses a stream, and also the damming of the natural bed of the stream at such crossing-points in such a manner that while I can pass off the surplus water jowr the stream when it is swollen I am aso en abled to force the escape-water into the iiutne when the water in the stream becomes low, alf as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed -to de scribe its construction and operation.

In order to give a clear understanding 0i one part of my invention, it will be'necessary to imagineanarrow trough set into the grount` and extending for miles through the countryl and at certain points we will imagine this trough or tlume crossing a stream which. is serpentine in its course. The drawings, Fig 1, represent one bend or" a stream over which the ilume A passes, and the arrows indicate the direction ofthe currents both in the streatr and in the ume.

The ume box or trough is constructed oi five planks, a a a, which give live sides to it, the bottom plank being in a horizontal plane and the two uppermost planks being arranged in vertical planes, while the other two side planks incline inward, as shown clearlyv in Figs. 3 and 5. The framing to which these planks are nailed consists ot' a timber, b, which is placed under the flume-box, and also two upright pieces, c c, which are notched on this sill b, as shown in Fig. 4. These latter pieces are cut so that their edges form supports for the inclined and vertical side boards of the flume, and to these pieces, sill, and side supports the fiume-boards are nailed. It has been the practice hitherto to mortise and tenon the sills and side supports of' square iiumes together; but this mode ot framing is -objectionable, chiefly on account of the time and expenserequired in performing the work, especially so when each section ot iiume requires several of these frames. By notching the lower ends of the side pieces, c c, on the sill and then bolting them rinly thereto, as shown in the drawings, the shoulders resting on the sill forms a perfect brace, and when applied to the flume and firmly embedded in the earth this framing forms a perfect wing inthe embankment to prevent the water that may escape through the llame-trough or that coming in from the hillsides from washing the embankments and allowing the water that may escape to form a new channel, and thus render the flume useless on this account. Then, again,

e el,

in places where the tlumes are used it is not always convenient to obtain means for mortising, and it is much more convenient and easier to cut this framing out in a circular-saw mill. These upright supports c c being formed, as shown in Fig. 4, I obtain a very wide basesupport, which greatly increases the strength of the tlumes and dispenses with cross-braces for resisting lateral strain or expansion. Such braces are always more or less in the way of large logs, and it is desirable to dispense with them. My framing leaves the top part of the tiume entirely open, and no obstruction is oi'ered to large logs tloatin g down.

The square or rect-angular flumes are objectionable, on account of the large quantity of water which is required to oat logs in them. This is especially the ease in iloating smallsized logs. To obviate thisV objection, and to obtain a saving ot' water, I cut ot the lower corners of the flume, and by thus contracting the bottom of the tlunie I diminish its capacity for containing water without diminishing its capacity for receiving` and floating round logs.

The iiume is supposed to cross the stream B at many points, and at each crossing I erect small dams ot' a peculiar construction, the objects of which are to conduct off the surplus water from the stream into the fiume, and to prevent injury to the flume when the stream is swollen. On each side ot' the stream, at. the crossi11gpoints,I firmly embed in the earth strong timbers g g, which extend transversely across the lume and project suitable distances from each side thereof. The tops ot' these timbers extend up a short distance above the top edges of the fiume, and the bottom of these timbers extends some distance below the bottom of the llume, so as to form a passage, h, Fig. 2, for the water in the stream B to escape. On the lower77 side of the chute, or under channel h, I arrange a gate, 7c, which extends up to the top of the sides g g of this chtite and down to the bed of the same.

It will be seen from this description that I 'am enabled to check the current of the stream over which ythe tlume crosses by closing the gate 7c, and thus conduct the watenfrom the stream into the flume, and when the stream is swollen the gate lo can be partially or wholly opened, so as to-allow the surplus Water to escape through the channel which is formed beneath the flume.

B y this arrangement the gates, at each point where the stream is crossed by the flume, can be so adjusted as to pass ott all the surplus water in the natural bed of the stream, thereby securing the flume from injury by high Water, and controlling the whole when the water is low. The ilume-trou gh being constructed with inclined sides, it will be seen that it will otter less obstruction to the passage of the Water under it at the crossing-points than it' it were made in the form of a square box. This gives me another important advantage in the use of my polygonal tiume for tloatin g round logs.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desi rc to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Providing for the passage ot' water under the flume A and into the ume A at the points where the flume crosses streams, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A log-tloating ume constructed with an under and overilow channel and gate, arranged `over a stream, substantially as and t'or the purpose set forth.

Vitness my hand in matter of my application for a patent for building flumes and preparing small streams for tioating and driving logs and other lumber.

Witnesses:

W. F. LoGAN, WM. PINK.

JOHN DU BOIS. 

